2 bags of clothing, a bar of soap, and a tube of toothpaste...

Today, we neither taught nor helped clean up in San Pedro. Instead, the whole group went after lunch and gave out the donated clothing we'd collected before leaving the US. We gave it all to the 14 families who we've been helping this week--first by clearing their ruined houses, then by cleaning the sites, and now by giving them things we have in excess and they no longer have.

Arriving was different from the rest of the times I'd gone this week. In my van, for most of the way there, it was dead silent. Everyone seemed to be thinking. I simply looked out the window and thought about the difference we'd seen in just five days. It's remarkable. A neighborhood that was laid to waste just a few days ago was already revitalized and buzzing with a sense of hope. When we stopped on the hillside where we'd been working--this time wearing sandals and relatively nice clothes rather than work boots and old jeans--we attracted some stares.

Then we brought out 28 trash bags filled to bursting with donated goods: clothing for all ages and genders (and tastes), shoes of all sizes, and a few thousand stuffed animals, among other things. The manner of the stares changed. A collection of eager kids gathered around us. We paired up in twos and stood, waiting, as a crowd of somber adults descended the hill in our direction. Elaine and I went first. Each of us holding a trash bag (and Elaine some soap and toothpaste), we approached the women who seemed to have presented themselves as the first people to recieve the regalos. We explained the contents of each bag as they watched us with careful but grateful eyes. They thanked us, we wished them luck, they placed the bags carefully on their heads, and they walked away. This process repeated itself thirteen more times: the tired people, each with their own way of showing thanks, and the nervous students, wary of seeming condescending.

I got out my camera, having changed my Personal Growth Project from documenting the school in San Pedro to documenting the cleanup from the tropical storm, and started taking photographs. I felt strange, snapping away with my expensive camera while these people were standing here accepting old clothing, but that's what I'd done all week, having explained to them that I was going to use these photos to help them by showing people in the US what their lives are like now. I hope that you, if you are reading this from far away, will see them as such.